Epic Night Caps Season

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Three teams — the Yankees, Red Sox and Braves — were all one out from winning their games on Wednesday night, with the latter two playing for their seasons.

All three of those teams lost on Wednesday, and the seasons of the Red Sox and Braves came to a crushing end, capping horrible Septembers as the Rays and Cardinals, respectively, caught them.

That doesn't even mention how the Rays came back to beat the Yankees in extra innings. Trailing 7-0 in the eighth inning, while Boston was still beating Baltimore, the Rays began a rally as the Yankees walked in two runs and Evan Longoria blasted a three-run home run to pull the Rays within 7-6.

Then, in the ninth, Dan Johnson hit a pinch-hit homer in the ninth to send the game to extras where Longoria hit a walk-off home run in the 12th moments after the Orioles had a walk-off of their own against Boston and closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Take a deep breath. You following here?

The Longoria blast capped off what is possibly the worst September collapse in baseball history as the Red Sox won just six games this month after being crowned as the best team in MLB history.

The Red Sox's fate was started with a two-out double by former Ranger great Chris Davis.

Atlanta blew a save against the Phillies as the Cardinals romped the Astros to pass up the collapsing Braves.

And all of those dwarfed the overall significance of Mike Napoli's second straight two-homer night as he hit a 9th-inning towering shot to left field off Angels closer Jordan Walden to sweep the Angels and ensure the Rangers would be playing at home on Friday when the ALDS starts.

Nights like Wednesday are the reason sports are so great: heartbreak, jubilation, suspense, it had it all. And in 20 years you can bet ESPN 30 for 30 will be making a documentary about September 28, 2011. Hope you enjoyed it.